The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-06-09

"hSlC IllC1lid1fIdI ID |
sively increasing the congestion of
wealth and stimulating luxurious liy-
ing among the rich, while it alarm
:nglv swells the ranks of the hungry |
laborer, socialist and the pauper?
Take Massachusetts,, the "hub" of free
schools, free labor and boasted intelli-
gence, as fair representative. The
average expenses of laboring men, who
are the heads of families, in Massachu-
setts, amount to s754.4za while their
earnings average s558.68. In other
words, the working man falls short of
a support tor his family, sIo5.74, or
81 per cent. Eiow is this supplement-
ed3 1t is wrung from the toll of the
mother and children, not through the
discharge of the ordinary domestic |
duties of woman's sphere, but in the
wages mill. One-third of the meagre |
support must be eked out by mother
and tender children in order to keep
the wolf and the sheriff from the door.
In the great State of Massachusetts,,
the first to free her slaves and the last
to surrender her traffic in them, only
one working man in hundred owns
a house, and 10000 little children
are the h,relings of the "nabobs."
- Professor iiTIett tl.s..i! further informs us
that the New South is as much IN au-
vance of the Old, in morals and relig-
ion, as in material prosperity. This
is very gratifying intelligence in view
of the fact that as to the rank and tlle
of the Federal and Confederate armies,
the church membership in the Con-
federate army was IS per cent. the
larger. The same estimate would
apply to the general officers, and regi-
mental and company commaders OF
the two armies.
Statistics show that in some districts,
in the larger Northern cities, with a
population of 10000 children, there
are Sunday school accommodations tor
. only 1900. In some districts there is
only one Protestant church to 5000
in others, and to 5000, one to 49,
!, 900, and many entirely destitute OF
: church privileges. No wonder the police
: of Chicago arrest in one year 1900 boys
f and girls for petty crimes. What a
= mercy, that these poor people have
not been subject, for three-quarters Of
: a century, to the demoralizing "curse
| of slavery"
D Inhdelity never reached the firs1
e stage of its termination in the Olo
: South. The crowded houses which
r surge around Robt. G.. Ingersoll, from
g Maine to Kansas, furnish their owl
: comment.
e We would be distinctly understood
is as offering none of these statement
S, in defese of the moral right of slavery
Is or as regretting to draw any dana
y gine, or invidious comparisons or con
t. trasts between the Northern and South
le ern citizens of this, our common coun
" try. We are simply stating the tact
S, of history in rebuttal of Prot. 1lllett
S, unjust and unwarranted charges. Ih
n Southern people are addressing them
y. selves to living issues with no dlspos
v, ton to revive dead ones, except whe
h. their antecedents are assailed, With
is their own borders, by the teachers
ly their children.
ID Now as to this intellectual infer
er iority of the Old South, the memor
x of which so wfings the compasslonat
lie soul of the amiable Professor. II
O. makes the fatal admission that "betol
re the war the South had more boys
he college than the North" but begs tt
ty question by pleading that "they on
n went to school because it was the thlr
,re to do" A grave charge against ii
al Southern youth, on which we challens
ry him to the proof. Here is the quallt
,ly the sum and substance of his testlmon
In He deposes that "of all the books VIII
,re ten by American authors, ninety
ef- cent. come from North Of Mason al
on Dixon's line" and then asks "what
,at the answer to this Aisereditable fat
tv. Slavery" he reiterates, "the curse
ere slavery with its slothful and enervatll
IN influences, rested like an incub
ich upon the intellect Of the white man
for the South" Very we'll. We conce
no that the North has written nearly
rry the works of fiction, ninety per Gel
,rs of which are worthless and seventy-f
ese per cent. are actually pernicio'
ur- She has furnished great many pas:
lew bly good school books, a little valua|
,tal history and great deal of doubt
fic accuracy and questionable value.
ne admit all this, and more. We ere
md her with standard scientific and th'
,g" logical productions, of which the Sol
Did has been among her most appreciat
rid, students, feeling and acknowledging
the common pride in the merits and r
fine utation of her authors. And yet
of announce only what IS susceptible
cen demonstration, when we unhesltatln
9TH declare that for more than one b
nips dred years, the grand march of
ess- American intellect has been projec
The from Southern brains. From the ca
rted days of the Colonies, two columns
be- physical and ideal forces have mo
ions steadily from East to West across
.lity continent, divided mainly by the )
ker or goth line of latitude; each aninla
ong by respective and peculiar inspirati'
hnt and complemental to the other.